First Congressional Address to Nation (1774)

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First Congressional Address to Nation (1774)

To explain the Articles of Association, Congress included an address to the nation:“To the INHABITANTS of the COLONIES… In every Case of Opposition by a People to their Rulers, or of one State to another, duty to Almighty God, the Creator of all, requires that a true and impartial Judgment be formed of the Measures leading to such Opposition…that neither Affection on the one hand, nor Resentment on the other, being permitted to give a wrong bias to Reason, it may be enabled to take a dispassionate view of all Circumstances, and to settle the public Conduct on the solid Foundations of Wisdom and Justice…

Though the State of these Colonies would certainly justify other Measures than we have advised… we have chosen a Method of opposition, that does not preclude a hearty Reconciliation with our Fellow-Citizens, on the other side of the Atlantic. We deeply deplore the urgent Necessity, that presses us to an immediate interruption of Commerce, that may prove injurious to them. We trust they will acquit us of any unkind Intentions towards them, by reflecting, that… we are contending for Freedom, so often contended for by our Ancestors…

Your own Salvation, and that of your Posterity, now depends upon yourselves. You have already shown that you entertain a proper Sense of the Blessings you are striving to retain.Against the temporary Inconveniencies you may suffer from a Stoppage of Trade, you will weigh in the opposite Balance, the endless Miseries you and your Descendants must endure, from an established arbitrary Power…

Above all Things, we earnestly entreat you, with Devotion of Spirit, penitence of Heart, and amendment of Life, to humble yourselves and implore the Favor of Almighty God: and we fervently beseech his Divine Goodness, to take you into his gracious Protection.”Journals of Congress, October 21, 1774